Halliburton Co.'s (HAL) fourth-quarter earnings shrank 26% as
the oil-field-services company reported continued weakness in its
North American completion and production business.
However, shares rose 3% premarket to $38.96 after the company
beat Wall Street expectations for the quarter. As of Thursday's
close, the stock was up 15% over the past three months.
Halliburton is the top seller of services for hydraulic
fracturing in North America. Hydraulic fracturing, a process also
known as fracking, consists of injecting a mix of water, chemicals
and sand at high pressure into deeply buried oil- and gas-bearing
shale rock formations to crack them open. But the company's margins
have been pressured lately amid higher fracking costs in oil-rich
areas and declining demand for services in natural-gas fields.
Halliburton reported a profit of $669 million, or 72 cents a
share, down from $906 million, or 98 cents a share, a year earlier.
Earnings from continuing operations were 63 cents, down from 98
cents. Revenue improved 3.2% to $7.29 billion.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters most recently projected
earnings from continuing operations of 60 cents a share on revenue
of $7.06 billion.
In the completion and production business, revenue edged up
0.2%, though operating income shrank 45%, including a decline of
67% in its North America segment.
In the drilling and evaluation business, revenue rose 7.9% and
operating income was up 0.8%.
Last week, rival Schlumberger Ltd. (SLB) said its fourth-quarter
earnings fell amid lower revenue from its international operations
and a slowdown in North American onshore activity.
Write to Ben Fox Rubin at ben.rubin@dowjones.com
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